Darius Same ( The story that never happened in the place that never was )

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Darius Same

or, The story that never happened
(in the place that never was)

Synopsis of Darius Same:

Darius Same lives in a town called Boredom, and although this town never was, you know it very well. It is filled with suburban strip malls, identical track homes, and families consisting of that curiously perfect quantity: 2.5 kids. What makes Darius special, though he has trouble believing it himself, is his irrepressible imagination. The night before the first day of the new school year—a year that promises to be like every one before it—Darius encounters two peculiar monsters vacationing under his bed, and happily learns that a whole household of monsters resides in his very own closet.

Unfortunately, Darius has discovered this news at a rather inopportune time. All the remarkable creatures are quickly disappearing because children these days don’t bother to imagine absurd and unique characters anymore. They are content with the mindless trills of the television and the dreadfully safe and inoffensive games they are permitted to play at school. Perhaps you have never met these particular monsters who never were, but I promise you that they are just like the monsters living in your own world. There are monsters who boss you around, ones that make you afraid, others that are there for you when you cry, a monster that puts too much mayonnaise on sandwiches, monsters that make messes and others that clean them up; there are salesmen, telemarketers, musicians, librarians, computer programmers, inventors, fishes that grant wishes, and even Death herself. It’s not a simple task to run a monster household after all.

As one last hurrah, these nearly extinct creatures are planning a Monsters’ Bash and Darius must deliver the invitations. Along the way, quite accidently, he discovers a curious photograph of his twin brother Malcolm who had long since passed away, and realizes that his parents had moved to Boredom to escape a world that was unpredictable, where tragedy could strike at any moment. In order to help the monsters, Darius seeks out Dr. Voncrank, the mysterious monster inventor who has already vanished. But in his quest to save his new friends from disappearing, Darius hopes to find a way to make his own brother Malcolm “appear” once again too.

After many adventures and missteps, Darius succeeds in finding Dr. Voncrank and his Imaginarium, a room that amplifies the imagination. One by one Darius imagines the monsters back to normal once more, but not before coming face to face with the Scaremonger, the monster of Fear that has plagued him throughout. Though he does not vanquish fear, he does learn to direct his imagination as he pleases. And along with his monster cohorts, Darius at last imagines a boistrous Monsters’ Bash to celebrate.

The next morning Darius awakes in Boredom to find that not everything is the same. All the kids at school have amazingly wonderful stories from the summer to relate. His parents, having seen the devastation wrought during the night by their son’s imaginary adventures, realize that trying to live an uneventful, ordinary life cannot prevent unhappy or unexpected events from occuring. When Darius arrives home from school that day, he sees a “For Sale” sign on his front lawn. And if only for a moment, he is finally able to imagine his brother Malcolm there along with him.

Table of Contents

*** A Note Concerning Your Toes

Chapter 1: The Magic Staircase

Chapter 2: Someone’s There

Chapter 3: Preparations for the Bash

Chapter 4: Explosivity

Chapter 5: The Republic of Fear

Chapter 6: Doorways and Door Ways

Chapter 7: Good Luck and Better Luck

Chapter 8: Rarities

Chapter 9: The Dream in the Box

Chapter 10: Missed Connections